Cole Rous was a brilliant teacher of surgery and after twenty years at the University of Cape Town became Professor of Surgery there in 1947. Unfortunately ill-health forced him to resign in 1948. He was vice-chairman of the steering committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of South Africa, incorporated just before his death. He was President of the Cape Western branch of the Medical Association of South Africa in 1955. He made a deep impression with his Public Lecture to the South African Medical Congress at Johannesburg in 1952. He lived a vigorous intellectual and outdoor life, being interested in philosophy, psychology, the classics, music, and art, and active in flying, yachting, fishing, and carpentry. He practised at African Life Buildings, St George's Street, Cape Town. He died suddenly on 18 November 1955 aged 52.